5 Ways Softball Coaches Can Improve Their Communication

As a coach, how you communicate with your players will go a long ways towards determining your ultimate success. Most people do not verbally express themselves very well. We do a good job visualizing things, but do not do a very good job when it comes to verbalizing our thoughts and feelings.

Since your job as a coach is to teach and communicate, the inability to get your point across can be disastrous. Everything you do as a coach involves your ability to communicate.

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Here are five keys to effective communication you can use with your fastpitch squad:

Be Constructive, Not Destructive

Everything you say and do with your players should be constructive. Build them up, do not tear them down. If your players are going to be successful, they must first believe that they can be. They will not believe in themselves if they know you do not believe in them.

As a coach, build your player's confidence. Avoid saying things that will hurt their self-esteem. You can build confidence by being constructive and positive with your comments and body language.

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The Sandwich Approach

Along those lines, always use the sandwich approach when correcting your players. The sandwich approach is where you say something positive, which is the top piece of bread. Then you tell them what they did wrong and how to correct it, which is the meat of the sandwich. You finish with encouragement, which is the bottom piece of bread.

For example, if Sally let a ball go under her glove, tell her: "Sally, I like the way you moved toward the ball low to the ground." (the top piece of bread) "Next time, though, remember to bend at the knees rather than at the waist." (the meat of the sandwich) "You are really hustling today. Keep up the great work." (the bottom piece of bread)

This is a much more effective way of communicating with your players, and it softens the blow of constructive criticism by surrounding it with positive words and encouragement.

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Be A Teacher, Not A Talker

Instead of spending all your time talking, spend it teaching. Talk some, demonstrate some, take your team to watch another good team play, ask a friend who is a good player to come to a practice and show your players a particular skill, or get your team together and show them one of our instructional training tapes.

Get creative and teach rather than just talk. When you were a child you probably learned some difficult concepts through creative teaching. Teachers use songs and name games to teach lessons we remember for a lifetime. Get creative with how you teach various skills and drills. The learning process can and should be fun.

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Talk Less and Show More

To understand this better consider the following point:

• 83 percent of what you learn in your life you learn from what you see
• 11 percent of what you learn in your life you learn from what you hear

That is a powerful statistic and while it won't apply to every player on your team, it will be true for most of them. Some people learn from things they hear, but for the most part, the majority of people learn from the things they see.

Why is this so important? Because if you are trying to teach a group of kids how to play softball you need to let them see what you are talking about—not just hear it. Be aware of this when you practice with your team. Spend as little time as possible talking.

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You will have to talk some in order to explain a drill or a skill but do not explain things into the ground. Hit the highlights and then let the kids try it. You will find out right away whether you did a good job explaining. Or whether the players did a good job listening.

If you can properly demonstrate the skills of softball then do so. If not, find someone who can. This could be a player on an older team, a parent, or even one of your own players. If your players see someone perform the skills correctly this will help them learn quicker and with less chance for error.

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Know What Your Body is Saying

You cannot fool kids. Our advice is to not even try. Therefore, your body language must be as positive as the words that leave your mouth. If not, they will know that what they are hearing is not what you mean.

For example, if you put your hands on your hips and stand there with a stern expression on your face after a player strikes out, if you say "that's OK, you'll get them next time," the player will know that's not what you mean.

She is probably thinking how angry you are, and how you do not have any confidence in her. Knowing what your body is saying may require extra effort on your part. Yet, if your team believes in what you say, and how you present it, they will respect you—and respond to you.

More: How to Run the Perfect Practice

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